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About to use Migration Assistant to transfer date from previous Macbook Air (2012) to M1 Macbook Air (2020). File Vault is NOT enabled on old MBA - should I turn it on in new MBA before using Migration Assistant
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15
John Galt wrote:
You could do that but I wouldn't bother. FileVault is full disk encryption and will take a long time regardless of the aggregate amount of data being transferred. It's a background task and doesn't interrupt your work.
FYI, the 2018+ Macs utilize hardware encryption all the time now (it is always on). The only thing enabling Filevault does on the 2018+ Macs is to require a password. Enabling Filevault on a 2018+ Mac takes only seconds to enable.
About encrypted storage on your new Mac - Apple Support
Electing to do it later only conveys the immediate gratification of being able to use a new Mac right away. Lots of people are eager to use their new Mac and understandably choose that option, but then they come back here asking how they can "merge" the two accounts, which can't be done (not easily anyway).
I agree, the migration should be done on first boot to keep things simple. Enabling Filevault afterwards is easy to do no matter which model Mac it is.
John Galt wrote:
You could do that but I wouldn't bother. FileVault is full disk encryption and will take a long time regardless of the aggregate amount of data being transferred. It's a background task and doesn't interrupt your work.
FYI, the 2018+ Macs utilize hardware encryption all the time now (it is always on). The only thing enabling Filevault does on the 2018+ Macs is to require a password. Enabling Filevault on a 2018+ Mac takes only seconds to enable.
About encrypted storage on your new Mac - Apple Support
Electing to do it later only conveys the immediate gratification of being able to use a new Mac right away. Lots of people are eager to use their new Mac and understandably choose that option, but then they come back here asking how they can "merge" the two accounts, which can't be done (not easily anyway).
I agree, the migration should be done on first boot to keep things simple. Enabling Filevault afterwards is easy to do no matter which model Mac it is.
Thanks John. I guess my question is whether I should turn FV on on my NEW MBA before transferring files from OLD MBA using Migration Assistant.? I assume this would involve declining Migration Assistant first, then setting up a (dummy) User Account, turning on FV, then going back and using Migration Assistant to transfer files from my old MBA.
Does this sound correct ?
You could do that but I wouldn't bother. FileVault is full disk encryption and will take a long time regardless of the aggregate amount of data being transferred. It's a background task and doesn't interrupt your work.
Transferring information will take a long time whether you accept the offer to do that during initial setup, or defer it to some other time. Given those two options, doing it during initial setup is simpler and requires less time.
Electing to do it later only conveys the immediate gratification of being able to use a new Mac right away. Lots of people are eager to use their new Mac and understandably choose that option, but then they come back here asking how they can "merge" the two accounts, which can't be done (not easily anyway).
Should you decide to do that though, you already know how: create an initial "dummy" Account that you intend to delete after transferring your "real" Account.
It's not required, and it will take a long time if you were to turn it on now. Just be sure to enable it on your new Mac.
Thank you (again)
MIgration Assistant and File Vault
